Название: A Cryptography Primer
Автор: Klein Philip
Издательство: Cambridge University Press
Год: 2014
Формат: pdf
Страниц: 140
Размер: 26 mb
Язык: английский

Cryptography has been in use for at least several thousand years. It is listed in the Kama Sutra as one of the 64 arts to be mastered by women. One well-known elementary cryptosystem is attributed to Julius Caesar. Numerous anecdotes attest to the importance of cryptography in war and diplomacy over the years – and to that of cryptanalysis, the cracking of codes. For example, Britain’s interception and deciphering of the Zimmerman telegram, a message from Germany’s foreign minister to the government of Mexico (via the ambassador), helped speed the United States’ entry into World War I, for the message promised Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona to Mexico in return for its help against the United States.

In the Information Age, however, cryptography’s greatest contribution may be to commerce. Banks have long used cryptography to protect the security of electronic transfers. Geographically distributed corporations have used cryptography to protect their communication from industrial espionage. Perhaps the most exciting applications, however, involve securing communication between parties that have no previous connection and have therefore had no opportunity to agree on a key in advance. As commerce on the Internet grows, such applications will become every more prevalent. Fortunately, technologies such as exponential key exchange and public-key cryptography exist to make such applications possible.